Tag Archives: gluten free

In another life I was an avid Pepperidge Farm Goldfish muncher. I’d buy a package and eat some of the whole bag without even noticing. I tried not to make that a habit, but I really loved those cheesy little fish. Continue reading →

It wasn’t because she spent the years between two and three running naked through the neighborhood and giving our elderly neighbor a heart attack . And it wasn’t that at the age of three, she disappeared for an entire afternoon learning about the art of making bird’s nest soup with a (stranger) neighbor while the rest of the neighborhood was searching for her. And it wasn’t that she played her harmonica at the crack of dawn under the window of another elderly neighbor – or that she could use pick-up sticks to successfully pick locks. It wasn’t even that she’d make long distance phone calls to strangers and call them mommy. Continue reading →

If you think that the custard filled, chocolate topped cream puff is the ultimate pâte à choux, then you need a taste of the savory stinky cheese cousin, the gougère,

Ridiculously easy and savory – they can be created in minutes. If you spot someone coming up the driveway you can almost have them baking in the oven when they ring the doorbell. Ok. Kidding, but only a little bit. Continue reading →

Lulu and Phoebe would sample their way through the Farmer’s Market if they could successfully disguise themselves in couture and sunglasses while carrying little market baskets – but sadly, those missing opposable thumbs get them in trouble every time.

Next to croissants (in Paris) and very stinky cheese, Lulu and Phoebe love cookies, vegetables and fruit. In Paris, 3PM was their favorite time of day for a walk – the sidewalk buffet (as we affectionately named it) called to them. Parisians had no problem dropping food everywhere during their harried day and the men in green (another story) had not yet showed up to clean the streets. Our cobblestone Rue behind Lafayette Gourmet had the best smörgåsbord and that is where they learned to especially love all things market fresh and slightly bruised – fruit, veggies, and steamed stinky cheeses.

My introduction to baking began as a toddler when I was scooting around on the floor in my mother’s kitchen. She usually wore cherry red shoes that were always dusted with flour. I followed those shoes around the room, and like any savvy small fry, knew where the good crumbs landed when she was baking.

As I grew (read: ridiculously tall child) and could reach the counter, she began to teach me how she baked. There were no real recipes, just a tutorial handed down from her grandmother, to her mother, to her and then to me. Continue reading →

Since the Ginger-O reproduction was successful, I thought it might be time to conquer the Newman Fig Newton (say that 5 times really fast).

Studying various recipes, it was hard to find one single method that seemed just right. So I went back to one of my old books, Maida Heatter’s Cookies. The recipe seemed like it ought to convert to GF, but there was that big stumbling block again – volume measures. I couldn’t really find any source that gave the flour measurement in grams or ounces. Continue reading →

Like this:

I ate my first Snickerdoodle when I was a small kid. It was missing something – probably, chocolate. And all these years later I still think Snickerdoodles are boring and I still don’t like them much.

The cream of tartar flavor is like eating tooth filling material. And cinnamon/sugar belongs on toast, I think. But yet I’ve always been attracted to them for some unexplainable reason. I really want to like them. Continue reading →